


i am not going keeping him (he says as he keeps him)

by Somethin_Strange



Series: of beyblades and broken promises [2]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Adopted Children, Clones, Clones that technically count as children?, Domestic Fluff, Dr. Coomer appears for like. Two seconds, Fatherhood, Fear of Parenthood, Fluff, G-Dad, SO MUCH FLUFF, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, g-man holds a baby and has a crisis, gman: the dad instincts can't catch me if i run fast enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26281009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somethin_Strange/pseuds/Somethin_Strange
Summary: I refuse to get attached to this thing, G-Man thought to himself.As he held out his arms uncertainly, the baby was placed in them.And the second it was, there was no denying it.He’d gotten attached.----A small little theory on where Tommy came from, featuring the G-Man and Black Mesa's cloning experiments.
Relationships: The G-Man & Black Mesa, Tommy Coolatta & The G-Man
Series: of beyblades and broken promises [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900309
Comments: 7
Kudos: 89





	i am not going keeping him (he says as he keeps him)

**Author's Note:**

> Full heads up: I don't have much experience with fluff and writing it; I'm an angst writer primarily.   
> But I tried my best!

**_Dad, can y-you tell me a story?_ **

**_Of course. Once upon a time, there was a dragon-_ **

**_No, a true story! Tell me a story about you!_ **

**_Really? I’m not very interesting, you know that._ **

**_Don’t say that, haha! You’re i-You're interesting, and I want a true story!_ **

**_Do you promise you’ll go to bed after this?_ **

**_Of course!_ **

**_You won’t ask for yet another story like last time?_ **

**_I-I-I promise, Dad!_ **

**_Alright then. Here goes:_ **

Once upon a time, a person named Greggory Mann (also known as the G-Man) walked down a Black Mesa hallway.

Greggory’s suit was crisp and black, picked specifically for this ambigiously-important meeting. His hands went through a familiar nervous tic: Adjust suit lapels, straighten tie, run hand through hair, repeat. His eyes nervously flickered around as he repeated the room number in his head, hoping desperately that he looked presentable enough.

A scientist, one with white brown hair and a mustache, waved him over.

“Ah, you must be Mr. Mann!”

The G-Man cleared his throat. “Ah, um, please just call me Greggory.”

“Alright then,” the scientist nodded, “Mr. Greggory. Please follow me!”

The man led him into a meeting room with yet ANOTHER scientist sitting at a grey table. Black curtains covered half of the room, shielding projects from both the harsh lights and people’s view. The scientist at the table shuffled his papers before looking up and waving.

“Greggory! We’ve been expecting you,” the scientist stated, putting down his stack of papers. “Come, have a seat.”

The sitting scientist, one Greggory knew as Dr. Laidlaw, brushed imaginary dust off of his lab coat. Laidlaw patted the table, and the G-Man pulled out a cold metal chair and sat. 

“So…” Gregory started. “You requested a meeting with me?”

Laidlaw ignored this for a moment and smiled at the scientist still standing. “I’ll take it from here, Doctor Coomer.”

The standing scientist, Dr. Coomer, nodded and left.

Laidlaw cleared his throat.

“Mr. Greggory, you remember our last meeting, as well as the experiment that we said would follow?”

He did. Last time was a blur of signing papers and donating DNA and cells to Black Mesa’s research.

And also being slightly sick from the DNA/Cell extraction for the next two days, but that didn’t matter.

“Yes, I do remember,” he said with unease. “Did something go wrong?” 

One simply doesn’t get called back when everything was going swimmingly, after all.

Dr. Laidlaw waved his hand dismissively. 

“No, no, everything is...everything is fine. It’s just that...We’ve changed the main objective of the study.”

Confusion (and a little bit of dread) settled in Greggory’s head, creating a fine mist that undermined his calm.

“What do you mean?”

“Well. The focus of the project has shifted.” 

The G-Man opened his mouth to ask questions, but Laidlaw held up a hand. 

“Hold on, I’m not done explaining. The higher-ups have decided to gear towards our experiments on genetic cloning more than our project on our Zen project for the moment. You were part of the Zen project, as you know. After this cloning study is complete, then Zen project will continue again. We just thought we’d notify you, and-”

The G-Man tuned out the rest of the rant, focusing instead on watching Dr. Laidlaw with annoyed interest.

The scientist paced as he spoke, running a passing hand across the black curtains. Greggory could read this man like a book; There was clearly something behind the curtains that he wanted to show, but what could it possibly be? 

“Dr. Laidlaw, if you have something behind that curtain you want me to see, can you please just show it already?” Greggory said with a huff, getting tired. “I have work to get back to.”

The man in question startled for a moment, eyes wide.

The air was tense yet silent for a moment as irritation burnt like flame in The G-Man’s chest. Time was money; As a man of science Laidlaw should know this well.

Laidlaw cleared his throat.

“Well. Um. Here you go, I guess.”

The G-Man subtly rolled his eyes. “Thank you.”

“Behold! The product of Black Mesa’s labor!”

Laidlaw drew back the curtain.

On the other side of the curtain was a huge test tube, mounted onto the wall and made of thick glass. It was filled to the brim with light green fluid that bubbled, and inside that liquid…

…Inside that liquid was a baby.

Small, dressed in a light yellow onesie, and curled up; The baby slept soundly as it floated, oblivious to the rest of the world.

“Is...Is that…?” Greggory stammered, looking up in awe at the human in front of him.

“Yep! Congratulations Mr. Greggory. You are the one of the first human beings to be cloned at Black Mesa!”

The G-Man looked at the baby clone in shock.

“It’s very. Small.”

Laidlaw faltered. “W-well, yes, it has to grow into adulthood first. I bet that in the future, we’ll have much more efficient cloning technology! Perhaps we’ll be able to make instantaneous clones! Ones with the same memories and age as their original cell-slash-DNA giver! Interesting ideas.”

Greggory hummed in response, uninterested. The baby in the tube shifted slightly, eyes still softly shut.

Laidlaw continued his rant. “What we’re testing for is whether YOUR abilities will manifest in it. We’re not certain at the moment, but the chances are good!”

Greggory heard exactly NONE of what Laidlaw said as he continued to stare at the clone. 

Under his gaze, the clone slowly opened its eyes.

Its eyes were yellow and glowed slightly, filling the test tube with soft yellow light.

“Dr. Laidlaw?” the G-Man interrupted, still staring at the clone. “If this clone was made with my DNA, then…” He trailed off, and the scientist looked to him expectantly.

The G-Man took a moment to collect himself. 

“Does that mean that it's my son?” 

Laidlaw studied him for a moment, then turned to study the baby in the tube.

“I guess so. Yes, it would technically be your son.”

“Oh.”

Greggory stood there, basking in the new information.

He was a father.

He was a  _ FATHER _ .

He had a  _ SON _ .

And god, that terrified him beyond belief. It wasn’t his job to take care of it, yet he felt some sort of strange responsibility for it.

_ No _ , he tried to tell himself,  _ Black Mesa will take care of it well. _

He was desperately trying to ignore his new emotions when Dr. Laidlaw, out of nowhere, asked a ridiculous question.

“Do you want to hold it?” 

Greggory blanched. “Wh-what?!?”

“I mean, it is technically your child. Would you like to hold it?”

_ No _ , his mind tried to tell him,  _ no you really don’t _ . 

_ Because holding it will bring up even more feelings that’ll get in the way of your work. _

_ So look Dr. Laidlaw in the eye and tell him “No thank you”. _

_ “No thank you.” _

And he opened his mouth to tell him no, no thank you, but his thoughts were too slow-

But what he ended up saying was-

“Yes, I-I guess I would.”

Laidlaw nodded and went to fetch the child as the G-Man’s mind screamed at him.

The tube drained, and Dr. Laidlaw picked up the clone in his arms. The clone was so small...pale and with the beginning of soft brown hair; Yellow eyes that glowed and teeth that were slightly sharper than a normal human’s.

His son.

The child, swaddled in a yellow onesie, focused his eyes onto the G-Man; And the man in question could feel a tiny piece of his heart melt.

_ No, bad Greggory. Bad G-Man _ , he reprimanded himself,  _ do not get attached. You are going to give the child back to Black Mesa and go home. _

_ I refuse to get attached to this thing,  _ the G-Man thought to himself.

He held out his arms uncertainly and the clone was placed in them.

And the second it was, there was no denying it.

He’d gotten attached.

Greggory stood stock-still, holding this child to his chest. It- no,  _ he  _ was warm and soft and so so cute that the G-Man found himself instantly loving him beyond belief.

Warmth flooded his chest as a smile found its way onto the G-Man’s face; Even asleep this child was a beacon of sunshine and light.

And just when he thought he couldn’t possibly love more than he already did, his heart expanded to make room.

The child gave a small yawn and nuzzled into Greggory’s chest, the ghost of a smile gracing his face.

The G-Man almost didn’t hear Doctor Laidlaw’s laughter, he was so caught up in his little world of just him and the child.

“Parental love, huh?” said Doctor Laidlaw, “Yeah. It sneaks up on you, doesn’t it?”

“I...I guess it does. Hm.”

Back when he was a younger man, he’d studied what the humans called art and philosophy.

A group of these humans, the Ancient Greeks, had fascinated him.

These people had created a term - ‘storge’ - for the love a parent has for their child. But he knew now, this one word wasn’t enough to describe how he felt;

One word wasn’t even CLOSE to being enough.

He didn’t even know why he felt like this, he was normally more of a cold person. But this child had attached jumper-cables to his heart and forced it to work overdrive.

  
  


“Mr. Greggory, would you like a tissue?” Laidlaw offered.

The G-Man shook his head as he wiped his eye with his free hand. “Doctor Laidlaw? What’s this child’s name?”

“Currently? Black Mesa Cloning Experiment Trial 1, Test Subject 1-T.”

Greggory just stared at the scientist. “I...apologize, but that is a truly awful name.”

“W-well! It’s a scientific one!” Laidlaw protested. “Would you like to give it a name?”

“I would, yes.”

“Then pick a good one, Mr. Better-At-Naming-Things.”

Greggory looked into the depths of his head, thinking of the perfect name. In the sea of names he’s heard before and liked, one had always stood out as better than the rest.

He called it from the endless name sea, drawing it up from the depths.

And he spoke it.

“Thomas. Tommy for short.”

Laidlaw smiled. “Hey, it’s a better name than Test Subject 1-T.”

The G-Man looked down at the child in his arms. The sleeping baby gave no objections to his new name, resting calmly.

“Greetings, Tommy. It’s nice to meet you,” The G-Man said, smiling down at the infant.

Thomas didn’t respond.

A thought struck the man like a train. Greggory looked up, suddenly worried.

Black Mesa still was the technical caregiver of this child. Would Greggory even be allowed to see Tommy again? God, he hoped so.

He didn’t ever want to let this child go.

“When this meeting is over, am I allowed to visit Thomas?” He questioned, worry bleeding through his voice. “When?”

Doctor Laidlaw put up his hands in mock surrender.

“Let’s not kid ourselves here, Mr. Greggory. I know that you’ll be taking Thomas home.”

“I wasn’t…” The G-Man paused mid-objection, taking a moment to actually think. “Yes, I will be doing that.”

Laidlaw put a hand on the G-Man’s shoulder. 

“All we ask for is yearly diagnostic tests on him and Black Mesa will sign over full custody. Deal?”

Greggory didn’t care about that at all, all he cared about was his right to walk out Black Mesa’s doors with his son.

“Deal.”

Thus, Thomas was adopted by the G-Man.

And they both lived happily ever after.

**_Dad? I-I really liked that story!_ **

**_I’m glad._ **

**_Haha!_ **

**_Now get to bed, Thomas. It’s past your bedtime and you have school tomorrow._ **

**_Awww, can I h-can I have another story? Pleeease?_ **

**_You promised not to ask for another one._ **

**_But Daaaaaad…_ **

**_Tommy. I love you and I would tell you another one, but what time is it?_ **

**_...It’s eight o’clock._ **

**_And what time is your bedtime?_ **

**_...six o’clock…Fine, you win._ **

**_Goodnight Tommy._ **

**_Goodnight Dad! I-I love you!_ **

**_I love you too._ **

**_Goodnight._ **

**Author's Note:**

> Leave comments for Tommy to get another bedtime story. :)
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed! Have a great day/afternoon/night/whenever you're reading this! :-)


End file.
